Philippians 1:9 (ASV) And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;
Philippians 1:9 (ISV) And this is my prayer, that your love will keep on growing more and more in full knowledge and perfect insight,
Philippians 1:9 (KJV) And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
The final word in Philippians 1:9 jumped out at me today as I read it one translation and listened to it in another during the sermon this morning at Church. It jumped out at me because I still run into people who think only bad, terrible and awful things about the word “judgement”. It’s interesting this word came to me this morning, because last night, when I couldn’t sleep (thanks to the heat), Psalm 119 came to mind. In Psalm 119, the psalmist continually lauds God’s righteous judgements and asks not only to be taught them, but to be held accountable to do them as a way of showing His love for God. Another passage shared in the morning service was Jesus in John 14:23-27 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Now here in this verse in Philippians, we find Paul praying for the church at Philippi, praying that their love will grow more and more in what? He doesn’t pray that their love will pamper each other more and more. He doesn’t pray that their love will enable them to engage in sinful practices better. He doesn’t pray that life will become easy because of their love growing. Instead, Paul prays that their love will grow in knowledge and in the ability to make wise decisions, which is the basic definition of judge, to judge, and judgement. When you judge that an apple is rotten and throw it in the garbage, you have made a right judgement. But if you judge that dabbling in cocaine is okay because now you live under grace, you have judged wrong. Learning to make wise choices based on how God asks us to live in the Scriptures comes about the more we get to know who God is, what His character is like, and deepen our relationship with Him.
Obedience without relationship is legalism and stems from an empty religious spirit. Obedience with relationship however, only deepens that relationship and shows God that you love Him enough to prove it with how you choose to live your life. It continues to amaze me how many people take the concept of obedience and immediately turn it into legalism and accuse those who encourage obedience as encouraging legalistic behaviour. Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s test of whether we love Him or not is directly tied to our willingness to obey. Over and over in the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets lamenting that His people had turned obedience to His commands into their own religion apart from Himself. They’d turned it into a strict set of do’s and don’ts that completely removed relationship from the equation and even Jesus Christ would be heard saying that this people gives lipservice but their heart is not toward Him. Empty strict religious legalism results when relationship is deadened. This deadening takes place when the focus of a person’s outworking of their faith becomes the rules instead of the Rule Giver. One lady I knew years ago asked God one time, “Why do You have so many rules??!!” God answered her, “Because I am a King, and there are rules in my Kingdom”.
To get into God’s Kingdom requires that we admit our sinful nature, seek God’s forgiveness through Jesus’ shed blood on the Cross, repent of our sins by turning away from them, not engaging in them anymore, and by turning toward Christ and engaging in those things He commands instead. This act of repentance is not truly repentance if we think we can pray the sinner’s prayer and go right back to our old sinful ways again. There may be sorrow during the prayertime, but not enough to create true repentance. That act of turning toward Christ is an imperative step in Salvation. The final act of Salvation is to verbally confess that Jesus Christ has become Lord of your life. Without Christ as Lord, living the Christian life becomes a series of stressed out disappointments. Without Christ as Lord, consistent obedience to His commands quickly becomes a drudgery, a have-to, an all-out chore, and eventually disengaged altogether.
James 1:21-22 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
James 2:14-18 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
James 4:6-8 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
We don’t earn our Salvation through our obedience to Christ’s commands, but we do pledge obedience when we make Christ Lord of our lives. Every single time we choose to obey and live in the path God has marked out for us in the Scriptures, we prove that our words are not empty, that we meant what we said at that moment of Salvation, and that we truly do love God as we say we do. The more we grow to love God, the more we desire to please Him and put a smile on His face. God has feelings just like we do, and it breaks His heart when His people do not love Him in their deeds as well as their words. Choosing to love God through our obedience then, requires discernment, insight, and the ability to correctly judge what should be done in any given situation. The closer we get to God’s heart, the easier it is to discern what is necessary. God even encourages us in James to ask God for wisdom. God says He will give it without scolding or reprimand.
James 1:5-6 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
In the dark days we live in, which are only going to get darker before the Day of the Lord dawns, insight, foresight, wisdom and discernment are necessary more now than ever before! The enemy is working overtime in some areas of the world to deceive, to waylay, to undermine and to destroy the faith of those who call themselves Christians. The true member of the Bride of Christ will seek to get closer to God’s heart than ever before, not merely to learn the heart and mind of God, not merely to receive protection from the evil one, but to gain what is necessary to go out and live life in the world around us.
Let us not allow our obedience to God’s Word to slip into the dungeons of legalistic religious ritual. Let us ensure that our obedience is engaged in to show our love for God.
